Let’s Talk About Yomi wo Saku Hana

There’s a good chance you’ve never heard the name “Yomi wo Saku Hana” before, unless you’re coming to this post weeks, months, or even years after its release. Even then, that’s not a safe bet. This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about the game, but stories about projects that have been in development for years are always fun to discuss — and hopefully just as fun to read.

Experience Inc. originally announced this game in May 2016, nearly four years ago. It was planned to be an action RPG with a Sengoku-era setting at the time — a surprise for a developer well established as a creator of far too many first-person dungeon-crawling RPGs to mention here. It was also scheduled for an Xbox One release, a system that’s performed worse than even its Microsoft hardware predecessors. It, needless to say, did not make its initially scheduled spring 2017 release timeframe.

It was actually in spring 2017 that Experience confirmed that its development had been rebooted and the genre changed to a dungeon RPG, making it like their other titles gameplay-wise. They also delayed it to spring 2018, at least a year from that time. No details were provided about what could have happened behind the scenes, but this usually means a project’s development isn’t going smoothly. It was even easier to believe that when Experience’s next comment about the project involved them delaying it again, this time to spring 2019.

It wasn’t until August of 2018 that they finally started providing more solid details about it, easily enough to show how the original plans had been massively changed. In addition to the genre, the setting was shifted from the Sengoku era to a more modern fictional Japan in the late 20th century.

It’s now a contemporary dark fantasy with a focus on fighting corruption, a setting (specifically the 20th century part these days) more untouched by Japanese developers. The artwork shows how this will be one of their more serious efforts like Stranger of Sword City, a switch from the anime style of the original version. This was the result of several brainstorming sessions regarding its progressing development behind the scenes.

We’re now in the year 2020, where they’re finally showing it in action and providing more details. The 13-minute gameplay demonstration shows how its level of horror and grotesqueness will be nearly on par with their Spirit Hunter horror visual novel series, though this won’t be a horror game per se.

The game will start in 1979, and will feature a company manager hired through illicit means wandering through a mysterious dungeon alone. Eventually, the player can form a party with characters of various classes and ages. They’re all trapped in the labyrinth by a similarly mysterious figure known as the Mad King, and monsters known as Yomi will have to be defeated with the use of the Yomo wo Hana ability to make it out alive. Chances are several of these same monsters were also planned for the original title, but were given a more realistic facelift fitting the updated setting.

Experience could have run into development and funding woes behind the scenes, at least partially related to Yomi wo Saku Hana. A period of more than four years is a long development timeframe for a low-to-mid-budget dungeon RPG. Experience’s schedule has been lighter than it was during the Vita era, and it’s been a while since they’ve acquired a development deal with a bigger publisher. There’s a reason why they had to resort to a (thankfully successful) crowdfunding campaign for a third Spirit Hunter game.

Experience’s platform choices for Yomi wo Saku Hana aren’t what you’d expect for a niche Japanese title. It was originally announced only for Xbox One four years ago, and it’s staying that way despite the system’s low software sales in Japan. With the latest info, they confirmed it will release for XB1 on June 11th, but the game will arrive for PlayStation 4 and Switch sometime in the winter.

Experience said the game would receive a western release when it was first announced, perhaps another detail that hasn’t changed. Several localization companies will be capable of handling it. NIS America handled Stranger of Sword City and a number of their Vita titles, but could be too busy bringing over their own titles and Falcom games to handle it in the near future. Aksys Games could also be in the running, which has established a relationship with Experience after localizing the Spirit Hunter games. If no one picks it up, Experience could localize it themselves and self-publish it digitally. But the results are usually better when these games are handled by a company with a larger presence in a western country.

Of course, the localization chances will also depend on whether the game is good in the first place, so let’s not jump too far ahead here. We’ll find out if it’s good in June, or in the winter if no one buys the Japanese XB1 version.